Elon Musk insists he is not spending $45m a month to get Donald Trump elected

Elon Musk denied reports that he plans to spend $45m per month on a super political action committee backing Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

“What’s been reported in the media is simply not true,” Musk told conservative commentator Jordan Peterson in an interview aired on Monday. “I am not donating $45 million a month to Trump.”

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that Musk, who endorsed Trump in July, would funnel the donations via an organization called America PAC.

Musk’s denial came the day before Tesla announced that its second-quarter profits had dropped 45 percent to $1.48bn amid a drop in sales of its electric vehicles.

In the interview with Peterson, Musk said he created America PAC, which he said would support Trump but “is not supposed to be a sort of hyperpartisan.”

The X owner said he was drawn to the Republican candidate because he believed the GOP was more in line with his thinking around issues like meritocracy and freedom.

“One of those values being meritocracy, as much meritocracy as possible, so you get ahead as a function of your skill, and nothing else,” Musk told Peterson, adding that he hoped Trump would bring as much freedom from government intervention as possible.

Musk also said his political thinking is not the same as Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again, but rather “MAG,” Make America Greater.

The Tesla co-founder added that he doesn’t follow any “cult of personality” around Trump, but feels the former president showed “great courage” after surviving an assassination attempt.